After searching The Last Will and Testament of Aunt Merle, I examined the final documents in the packet.

William Ebelt and Abraham Brody testified as to the fact they were the executors of the estate. William's address was the same as Aunt Merle, 473 E. 25th Street, Brooklyn, New York, and Abraham lived at 1123 Avenue K., also in Brooklyn.

Both testified that Julia S. Smith and L. Howard Smith were the witnesses to the will. By looking at this document, I was able to determine the second witness's name as the signature was illegible on the will.

An interesting item in the middle of the document - and be sure to examine the entire document - is the following referring to the deceased: That the above named decedent left her surviving, no widow, no child or children, no child or issue of a deceased child, no adopted child or children, no issue of any deceased adopted child or children, no father, mother, brother or sister of the half or whole blood, no issue of a deceased brother or sister, no uncle, aunt, and no issue of a deceased uncle or aunt, other than those above named.

After the bequests of Aunt Merle, the document indicated "that the value of the real property in the State of New York of which the said deceased died seized is LESS THAN $1000.00 and that the value of the personal property of which the said deceased died possessed is LESS THAN $1000.00 dollars. [Emphasis added].

The document was dated 1st day of September 1942 and signed by both William Ebelt and Abraham Brody.

The final document in the packet is an Affidavit under the Law in Relation to Taxable Transfers. It indicates that her real property is not more than $1,000 and she did not transfer property "in contemplation of her death..."

This time, all legatees are listed with the amount of the legacy they received. All their address appeared earlier in the documents.

Charles W. Vaughan, $100; William Ebelt, $2000; Irene Robinson, $500; Amelia Lapp, $250; Reeve Burt, $250; Virginia Burt, Diamond rings worth $200; Lee and William Cavashier, $125 each; Eleanor Siva, Utensils, value unknown; William Lehman, Residuaray [sic] est. app. $200 each; and the same for Fannie DeSana and Mearlin Batdoroff [sic]. It is interesting that nieces Ada Burt, Kathryn Sloan, and Nellie Lehman are omitted. It's not that there isn't room at the end of the document for the names, as there are five lines blank at the end of the page.

So. That's it for the will and supporting documents of Aunt Merle.

There are still things I'd like to find. Her birth record to settle the question of exactly how old she was during each census year; any other documents that may be out there, and I'm very curious as to her burial at Willow Cemetery. Is she buried with Irene Robinson??